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Covert Affairs starring Piper Perabo, Christopher Gorham & Kari Matchett

Posted on January 22, 2011 Written by ripitup

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Covert Affairs starring Piper Perabo, Christopher Gorham & Kari Matchett
Covert Affairs starring Piper Perabo, Christopher Gorham & Kari Matchett. Image via screenrant.com

Annie Walker (Piper Perabo) is a talented and beautiful CIA trainee who outperforms others at pretty much anything. And she speaks 6 languages so Langley can’t wait to get her on the field.

The reason she wanted to be CIA was because she no longer wanted to suffer from deception. A while back, the love of her life – Ben (Eion Bailey) walked out on her, with a note that said “truth is complicated”.

Annie does her best to adjust to CIA protocol as well as her cold yet confident boss Joan (Kari Matchett), who is married to the Arthur Campbell (Peter Callagher), who happens to be their boss. While Joan and Arthur try to solve their marital problems, they also strategize on how to make the best use of Annie, without truly revealing the truth. Annie’s ex Ben was right. The truth is complicated and he just might be a big part of everything.

Blind and brilliant tech guy Auggie (Christopher Gorham) becomes Annie’s best friend and ally, as well as the series’ main sense of humor.

Of course Annie is expected to hide her real job from her sister Danielle (Anne Dudek). Danielle is happily married with two kids and Annie is staying at their guest house. Living close to them makes keeping secrets harder and stressful.

Each episode covers a new case as well as some foreshadowing on “the complicated truth”. We get action, deception, role play, a little drama and more action, with some comedic relief attached.

**

Covert Affairs is a fun action/drama with a decent cast. It looks like Kari Matchett decided her supporting role in Leverage as Nathan Ford (Timothy Hutton)’s ex-wife didn’t cover enough espionage or screen time so here she is in one of the leading roles.

Peter Callagher (The O.C., Sex Lies and Videotape, While You Were Sleeping) is getting older and more charismatic, certainly looking his powerful position. And isn’t it fun to see Anne Dudek in such a domestic role after she was the bitch of a doctor on House and beat the crap out of Josh Radnor’s Ted Mosby on an episode of How I Met Your Mother?

Sure, my favorite CIA agent ever will be Jennifer Garner’s Sydney Bristow of Alias. Covert Affairs started at a fun but medium pace. So far, it lacks the excitement level of the first Alias seasons, but it is very entertaining and promising. Since I no longer have Alias, I might as well have another spy show with a female lead.

Certainly recommended for Alias fans, lovers of the spy genre and definitely anyone who loves to see the female lead a girl kick ass.

7.7   on IMDB.

Fun notes:

  • Piper Perabo was nominated for Golden Globe this year for her role as Annie. She lost out to Katey Sagal, who won for her role in the series Sons of Anarchy. I don’t know about you, but for me Katey Sagal will always remind me of her hilarious role of 11 years as Peggy Bundy on Married with Children.
  • Canadian actress Emmanuelle Vaugier plays the beautiful and charismatic reporter who might give CIA a hard time. She also plays The Morrigan, head of the local dark Fae government in Lost Girl.

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Filed Under: TV shows Tagged With: action, alias tv show, anne dudek, Christopher Gorham, covert affairs, covert affairs cast, covert affairs tv, covert affairs tv show, drama, Eion Bailey, Emmanuelle Vaugier, Jennifer Garner, kari matchett, katey sagal, Peter Callagher, piper perabo, Sydney Bristow, TV shows

Fringe starring Joshua Jackson, Anna Torv & John Noble

Posted on December 15, 2010 Written by ripitup

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Fringe starring Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson & John Noble
Fringe starring Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson & John Noble

Pilot Episode

Boston.

FBI Agents Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) and John Scott (Mark Valley) are having a secret relationship, as agents in the same unit are discouraged from gettting romantically involved. However one late phone call to a bizarre incident shows that their romance is the least of their problems.

The Passengers have died in the most mysterious circumstances and Homeland Security is also involved in the investigation. It doesn’t help that the agent in charge is Phillip Broyles (Lance Reddick) is not the biggest fan of Anna.

While Olivia and John chase a lead, John becomes exposed to the same strange material that killed the people on the plane. His tissues thicken and he goes into a coma, giving Anna a limited amount of time to save him. She learns that her best chance is the genius scientist Walter Bishop (John Noble) who has been in a mental institution for the past 17 years. Her only access can be through his son Peter (Joshua Jackson), a guy with an IQ about 190 and would rather spend time in Iraq then see his dad…

Olivia manages to get Peter to see Walter and have Peter sign him out. But Walter’s methods seem just as insane as she is. Will she be able to save John? And is the plane incident only the beginning of a series of highly disturbing events?

What’s to Come & Characters

Olivia eventually makes peace with Reddick and tries to come to terms with what John had been keeping from her. Reddick recruits her to investigate similarly weird phenomena that can not be solved without Peter and Walter, so they become a part of this elite team.

Peter doesn’t like his father’s past involvement with this Fringe Science, as every case seems they run across happens to be at least partly Walter’s fault.  However he likes working with Anna and ends up getting to know his dad better.  He also often finds himself translating his father’s language to Anna and others, as well as using his genius IQ to help matters.

There is a talk of The Pattern and a gigantic corporation called Massive Dynamic, founded by William Bell – a scientist who used to be Walter’s lab partner. Massive Dynamic seems to be behind all Patter- related things. However being a powerful company and ever- playing the helpful party, Olivia finds herself asking help from the woman running the company – Walter’s right arm- Nina Sharp (Blair Brown)…

Creators, Alias & Lost

Fringe TV Series was created by J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci. If you like this mystery/thriller genre with a sci-fi touch, you probably heard of J.J. Abrams who created the hit series Alias and Lost.

Fringe’s plot differs vastly from the previous shows of course but as a hardcore fan of Alias, I can’t help but noticing some fun similarities. The parallels should probably be the topic of another show but if Massive Dynamic reminded you of SD-6 and Nina Sharp reminded you of Arvin Sloan, we are on the same page: ) )

The Verdict

Creating highly engaging and addictive TV shows is J.J. Abrams’ specialty. And while I wasn’t able to get caught up in the hype of Lost, I enjoyed the show to a certain extent. But I always felt that it lacked the heart of Alias and well, while Alias still remains my favorite, Fringe is a close second.

I didn’t think I’d be interested in fringe science until Fringe started but now I can’t get enough of the episodes. The show comes up with semi-surreal plots that are too realistic to be sci-fi and too fantastic to be realistic.

The characters are interesting and the cast is pretty good. However the stars of this show are the episodes themselves. The show is currently in its 3rd season.

I really hope J.J. doesn’t lose interest in this one and leaves it hanging as he moves on to greener pastures (shows).

9/10 from me. Rated at 8.8 on IMDB.

Fun Note:

It seems like Anna Torv and Mark Valley really got caught up in playing a couple in love, since they got married in 2008. They are separated now, though.

 

Recommended Posts, Movies & Series

Alias Review- TV series created by J.J. Abrams

Forever Young- movie starring Mel Gibson & Elijah Wood- written by J.J. Abrams

Regarding Henry- movie starring Harrison Ford & Annette Bening – written by J.J. Abrams

The Shadow Dancer- romantic drama starring Joshua Jackson, Harvey Keitel & Claire Forlani

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Filed Under: TV shows Tagged With: alias tv series, alias tv show, anna torv, blair brown, Fringe, fringe science, fringe tv series, fringe tv show, J.J. Abrams, john noble, Joshua Jackson, lance reddick, mark valley

Actor Musicians and Musician Actors Part 4: Hugh Laurie, James Denton and Greg Grunberg a.k.a. The Band From TV

Posted on August 15, 2010 Written by ripitup

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Band from TV featuring James Denton, Greg Grunberg and Hugh Laurie
Band from TV featuring James Denton (on the left), Greg Grunberg (right) and Hugh Laurie (lying).Image from 22dakika.org

When you are talented and have the time and money to pursue your hobby, it would be a shame not to just give it a shot. Well, it is very common for musicians to step into acting, and for actors to play in bands. Some even get successful enough to overshadow their acting careers and some just have a blast. Previously I covered Kevin Bacon, Keanu Reeves and Jon Bon Jovi, John Travolta, Bruce Willis; David Bowie and Shane West. Here are 3 more rockin’ actors
James Denton, Hugh Laurie and Greg Grunberg appeared in movies alright but they didn’t shoot to fame and stardom until they got leading or co-starring roles on hit TV shows. They formed the band to help raise money for charities, but they are also having a blast. The band also features other celebrities, but I’ll be talking about these 3 men a lot of us know and like.

James Denton has been playing Mike Delfino on Desperate Housewives since the show first aired in 2004. He has been the love interest of Susan (Teri Hatcher).Mike and Susan had their ups and downs but they are currently happily married. James is not one of the housewives- obviously- but the show just wouldn’t be the same without this ruggedly handsome plumber named Mike. His character also joins some jamming sessions with the husbands/boyfriends of the other housewives on several episodes. Old D

You might also catch a younger James in the movie That Old Feeling starring Bette Middler and Dennis Farina.

Greg Grunberg might have increased his popularity with his character Matt in the TV series Heroes but I first saw and liked him as the adorable CIA agent Eric Weiss, best friend and partner of Michael Vaughn in Alias.

Hugh Laurie: And, if you haven’t caught at least caught one glimpse of Hugh Laurie as Dr. Gregory House in House, I would really have to ask you what rock you’d been hiding under for the past 6 years!

So as very cleverly called The Band from TV, these men rock out to their liking. Being a good singer, piano and guitar player are not only talents of actor Hugh Laurie- he is also a published author of a crime novel.

Related Posts

Actor Musicians and Musician Actors: Keanu Reeves, Jon Bon Jovi, Kevin Bacon

Actor Musicians and Musician Actors, part 2: John Travolta and Bruce Willis

Actor musicians and musician actors, part 3: Shane West and David Bowie

Desperate Housewives starring Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman, Eva Longoria, Marcia Cross and James Denton

Alias starring Jennifer Garner and Michael Vartan

Other Posts feat. Hugh Laurie and House

Absolute Hugh Laurie and House Trivia: 21 Facts About Hugh Laurie and His TV Series House

Use of Social Media in TV Series featuring Castle, The Mentalist, House, Cougar Town and NCIS Los Angeles

Television’s 3 Most Brilliant, Emotionally Broken Men: Patrick Jane, Gregory House and Jack Bauer

House starring Hugh Laurie

ACTORS AND LITERATURE: Ethan Hawke, Hugh Laurie and Viggo Mortensen

22 Tall Actors From Hollywood

The British Actors We Love Part 2: The Hughs

Hollywood Stars in Friends, Including Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts and More



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Filed Under: Movies and Actors, TV shows Tagged With: actors, alias tv show, band from tv, desperate housewives, eric weiss, greg grenburg, Gregory House, Hugh Laurie, James Denton, mike delfino, music, rock n' roll

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